Acceptance
by Lady Iapetus Roving Wanderer
Summary: Happily ever after is only for fairy tales...


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Disclaimer: Pause for boring legal stuff. I do not own Digimon. I also do not own the play that I have based this fic off of, but the plot seemed **extremely** relevant to the couples argument. I may have used this particular coupling to prove the point, but it can work with any coupling you care to insert.

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Acceptance  
**By Lady Iapetus**

Motomiya Daisuke sat on his couch, thumbing through a book. It had been a fairly busy day at the restaurant, and he was grateful for the chance to relax. When he'd last checked V-mon had been stretched out full-length in the bedroom, dead to the world, which was perfectly all right with Daisuke. He'd wanted to get this novel finished for a long time.

Just as he was getting to the _really good_ part, there was a knock on his apartment door. Grumbling to himself, Daisuke marked his place, got up and answered the door. To his surprise he found an old friend there, someone he hadn't dreamed he'd see in a long time.

"You look awful," he remarked, at a loss to say pretty much anything else.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

The cinnamon-haired boy nodded. "Yeah, sure, come on in." He stepped aside and let Takeshi Takeru into the apartment. Daisuke watched in concern as he walked over to the couch and sat down. His shoulders were slumped, as if someone had dumped Ankylomon on them and expected him to still stand upright.

"I'm sorry if I'm taking you from anything," Takeru apologized as he looked up at Daisuke. The redhead noted that the light in his blue eyes seemed faded.

He shrugged in response. "I was just reading. What is it?" Daisuke asked. "What's wrong?"

Takeru breathed a heavy sigh and answered, "She's gone."

"Who's gone?" Daisuke asked, doing a double take. 

"Who do you think?" Takeru shot back, fixing his friend with a glare. "Hikari!"

"What do you mean, she's gone?" Daisuke asked, still unable or unwilling to comprehend the implications of Takeru's announcement.

The blonde stood up. "How many definitions of 'gone' do you know?" He continued on, not giving Daisuke the opening for a smart-ass remark. "I couldn't get her at work all day, and she wasn't at home either."

"So maybe Hikari took the day off. Went to a movie, took--" Takeru interrupted Daisuke's protests with a shake of his head.

"I thought that too. When I got home, the house was empty."

This time it was Daisuke's turn to sigh heavily. "So maybe she's still out."

"No, I don't mean no one's there," Takeru replied. "I mean, it was emptied out. Everything was gone."

Daisuke's jaw dropped. "Everything?"

Takeru nodded. "Except the bed, my living room chair, the refrigerator…a few other things."

"Oh," Daisuke whispered.

"I also called the bank, and half our account was cleaned out," Takeru continued. "And if _that_ weren't enough, I'm taking all this in and a guy comes to the door and serves me with divorce papers. They were filed two weeks ago, but requested not to be served until today."

Daisuke's face was grim. "I see."

Takeru turned back to his friend, desperation written all over his face. "What am I going to do?" he asked.

The second leader of Odaiba's Chosen regarded Takeru for a moment before asking, "Let me ask you this: what does Hikari want from you?"

"Nothing," Takeru replied. "She just wants me to sign the papers. You know, no fault divorce. She's found somebody else."

"How do you know?" Daisuke asked.

In reply, Takeru pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pants pocket. "I finally found this in the bedroom." He handed it to Daisuke, and watched as the other boy read the letter. "What do you think?"

Daisuke sighed as he handed the letter back to Takeru. "I think," he began slowly "that if you don't want anything back that she took, you should sign the papers."

Takeru stared at his friend in disbelief. "What?"

"I think it's what's best," Daisuke added. "For both of you."

The blonde looked at his friend critically for a minute. "Wait a minute," he said. "You don't seem surprised. You knew about this, didn't you?" Takeru accused.

"Everyone knew about this," Daisuke responded evenly.

"What are you talking about?" Takeru asked.

"All you had to do was look at you two, and you knew it was going bad," answered the cinnamon-haired boy.

Takeru couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Is this your definition of support?" he demanded.

Daisuke backed away, hands held up in defense. "Hey, I'll give you all the support you want, but it won't change what I feel. You guys had a marriage in name only."

"And you're so sure of that?" Takeru folded his arms across his chest challengingly. For a moment it was like they were back in the fifth grade. To his surprise Daisuke turned away, ran his hand through his hair.

"I probably shouldn't have said that," he finally said, in lieu of an apology. "It really doesn't matter what I think."

Takeru shook his head. "Sorry, you just can't drop a line like that and let it go. What do you mean that I had a marriage in name only?"

Daisuke sighed and turned back to face Takeru. "Do you really want to do this now?"

"Yes!" was Takeru's angry reply.

"Why?"

"Because I don't understand what's going on, and if you think you have any ideas I'd really like to know," Takeru responded.

Daisuke nodded. "Fine. Let me ask you this: When's the last time you and Hikari actually had any fun?"

"We went out a lot," Takeru answered, a bit uneasily. This response elicited a shake of the head from the other.

"That's not what I mean," Daisuke said. "When's the last time you two had fun _alone_. Just the two of you. Not at a party, but at home, having dinner, watching TV, renting a video, going to the movies. Just enjoyed _being_ with each other?"

"Okay, I know what you mean," Takeru replied nervously "but we…we both were working…a lot, we…"

"I rest my case," Daisuke said.

"Hold on!" exclaimed the blonde. "Just because we didn't cuddle on the couch every night doesn't mean we had a bad marriage."

"No, but the fact that you can't remember the last time you did is quite a symptom," Daisuke countered. "But let's put that aside, your wife left you. Shouldn't that drive the point home pretty loud and clear? Just because _you_ didn't see it doesn't make it any less valid."

Takeru asked, "And you don't see this as the coward's way out? Sneaking out when I wasn't around?"

"And how would you have it? Is a screaming battle in the middle of your apartment better?" Daisuke took out the letter again. "This is what she wanted. Re-read this letter. She wants to talk, but you both need time first."

"I don't need any time because I don't think it's over," Takeru denied. "I think we can be saved."

Daisuke groaned. "But it takes more than you to make it a couple. Hikari has to be in agreement. What are you really trying to save here? Your pride?"

"No, it's not that."

"Then what?" asked Daisuke.

Takeru turned a pain-filled expression towards his friend. "I need her in my life. We've been together since we were kids. We grew up together. If I think of any facet of my life, she's there. I just can't dismiss that. Pretend that it never happened."

Daisuke smiled to himself; _now_ they were getting somewhere. He walked over and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "No one's asking you to," he said gently. "Maybe everyone expected you two to get married when you should have just been friends. I don't know; it seems to me that you grew up together and now you've grown apart. It's no one's fault; it happens."

"I just can't walk away from that." Takeru looked down at the floor and clenched his fist around the letter.

"You don't have to, but you can't force something that isn't there," Daisuke pointed out.

Takeru looked at Daisuke. "So, what am I supposed to do?"

"Sign the papers," the redhead reiterated. "If you really want to keep her in your life, you have to cut free the part that's dead and let what's left grow."

The blonde's shoulders shook, as if he were trying to keep himself from falling apart. "It's…hard," Takeru finally admitted. "It's very hard." 

Daisuke nodded. "I know, but I think in the long run, it's really for the best."

Takeru turned a wry smile to his friend. "It's gonna take some time to convince me of that."

"I know." The pair stood in silence for a minute before Daisuke said, "Hey, why don't we go out and get some groceries and stuff for your apartment?"

"I'm not really hungry," Takeru answered.

"You will be sometime," Daisuke countered. "Besides, the walk will do you good."

The look Takeru gave Daisuke dated back to elementary school, when he had had a habit of sticking his foot into his mouth. "Why will a walk do me good?"

Daisuke paused in the note he was writing for V-mon, in case the blue dragon woke up before he came back to the apartment. "I don't know," he said finally. "That's what they always do in the movies."

Both of them laughed for a bit over that before Takeru opened the door. "Well, far be it from me to contradict Hollywood," he laughed. "Let's go for a walk." Takeru held the door while Daisuke grabbed his coat from the closet, and they headed out of the apartment.

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The End


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